


Everything for a damn book

by Arisandotherthings



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire | Pokemon Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire Versions
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-09
Updated: 2020-12-22
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:33:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,487
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27983115
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arisandotherthings/pseuds/Arisandotherthings
Summary: "You're overdue on this book and I want it so I'm tracking you down"(Prompt by nerds-are-cool on tumblr)
Relationships: Aogiri | Archie/Matsubusa | Maxie, Izumi | Shelly/Kagari | Courtney (implied)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 30





	1. Chapter 1

Maxie searched the geography section of the library once again, getting more and more irritated with each passing second. Nothing, it wasn't there.

"Are you looking for 'Inside Mt. Chimney'? Again?"

Maxie jumped at the voice that came behind him and spun around. An elderly lady was standing before him. Rather short and round, sweet smile and caring eyes; everything about her appearance screamed benevolence and kindness. The complete opposite of her actual personality. "Mrs. Morgan, it's a pleasure to see you," he lied through his teeth.

"I have already told you countless times, Maxwell, the book you're looking for isn't here," she said pushing up her glasses. She then spun around, going back to her desk.

"But," Maxie protested, following her. "It's been weeks!"

"You think I don't know? The boy that took it is overdue by a lot now," Mrs. Morgan suddenly stopped and Maxie almost collided with her. She turned around to stare at him, with a pondering look on her face that Maxie really didn't like. "Listen, kid, I really dislike when someone doesn't take the deadline seriously. So what about I tell you the name of the boy and you retrieve the book. Then I'll let you borrow it immediately and I'll pretend you haven't annoyed me every single day these last weeks."

"Is it even allowed?"

"Do you want the book or not?"

Maxie thought about it for a couple of seconds, then he shrugged.

"Deal."

After the bell of the last lesson had rung, Maxie found himself seating on one of the uncomfortable seats of the school's pool bleachers. He never went over there, but that day he had a mission; to retrieve 'Inside Mt. Chimney'. Now it wasn't just about the book anymore, it was a matter of principle. Once he set himself on something, Maxie hardly let go. And that was one of those times.

He watched as the swimmers swam laps on laps. Maxie never understood the beauty of swimming. In the end, people went into the water just to spend the next couple of hours trying not to drown. And Maxie could easily do without that, thank you very much. But apparently, there were people who really liked it. _Masochists_.

Luckily, the day before he had recognised the name Mrs. Morgan told him. Archie went to his school, and was pretty popular as well. Being the captain of one of the sport teams, it would be weird if he wasn't. Maxie had heard about how great, nice and handsome he was, and how he was the pride and joy of the swimming team. Not that the other members weren't good, but he was extraordinary, apparently.

One thing he knew for sure, though, was that the guy definitely didn't fit in the jock stereotype. For starters, being in the same class, he could tell that he wasn't stupid. Sure, he would get easily distracted, and would not always pay attention, but his grades were good, from what he understood. Not that he cared, of course.

The wait through the swimming class was excruciating. He didn't bring anything to kill time with and that night he had forgot to charge his phone, so now it was dead. For a whole hour he watched the swimming team doing its training. When the class ended, he almost cried tears of joy.

He collected his things in a second and went to find Archie. It didn't take much to spot him. He was talking with a girl with dark hair and a couple of blue streaks among it. She must have been Shelby- no, Shelly. He remembered Coutney talking to her a couple of times.

By the time he reached them, the girl was already making her way to the changing room.

"Hey," he said to catch Archie's attention.

The boy in front of him jumped and turned around. He just got out of the pool, so he was still completely wet, Maxie noticed. Water was dripping down his body and- ahem. Anyway. Maxie folded his arms over his chest and glared up at him. "Maxie?" Archie said, still startled.

A surprised look took over Maxie's face. "You know my name?"

Archie seemed to realise only then what he said and widened his eyes, blushing a little. "Er- yeah, of course, we're in the same class," he said, passing a hand behind his neck.

"But we've never even talked."

"Still," he shrugged, as if he was trying to skate over the subject. "Well, do you need something?"

Maxie finally remembered why he was there, and the glare returned. "You have something I want," he said, pointing an accusing finger at the other guy. In response, he made a perplexed face, trying to understand. Maxie, now starting to lose the litte patience he had, clarified. "'Inside Mt. Chimney'. You're long overdue on that book and I need it."

It was as if a lightbulb lit on above Archie's head. "Oh, the book about rocks," Maxie sneered at that. "Yeah, I have it. But I can't give it back, sorry, I still need it."

Maxie threw his arms up. "What do you need for? It's been weeks!"

"It's for the geography project. But, uh, I can't finish it," he said sheepishly. "The thing is... it's so boring! I even fell asleep trying to read it. Twice!"

Maxie looked at him bewildered, not believing to what he was hearing. "Boring? How can a book about the formation of the only volcano in our region be boring? In there it's written how it was formed, it describes accurately every single part of it. It goes back by centuries, no- millenia!"

Archie smiled at his fervor, clearly amused. "Exactly, boring stuff. Sorry, but not really what I'm into."

Maxie glanced at the pool, almost antagonizing it. "Ah, of course, you're a man of sea."

This time the other guy laughed, and Maxie felt his mood improve a little. Just a little. Still, he refused to let go. Archie seemed to get it, because he thought for a moment. "Tell you what, then," he said. "You like this stuff, right? Help me with my project, so I can finally get rid of it and you get the book you want so bad."

Maxie raised an eyebrow. "So I do the work for you and you will bless me by giving me the book you should have already returned to the library?"

"No, no," Archie raised his hands in front of him. "I'm gonna do my part, I promise. I just really need help with this one. Please?" he joined his hands as if he was praying and looked at Maxie with hopeful eyes.

Maxie pressed his lips together, trying to understand if he should accept. After all, if things didn't work out he could always just get up and leave, right?

Finally, he extended a hand. Archie smiled brightly, grabbing it and shaking it with force. "Awesome, thank you!"

"Yeah, yeah," Maxie reached in his bag and retrieved a pen. He grabbed Archie's arm, completely dried up by then, and wrote his phone number on the forearm. "There, text me when you're free."

And with that, he turned around and walked towards the exit, still wondering if that was a good idea. And everything for a damn book.


	2. Chapter 2

"And with this we're done," Maxie closed the book and leaned back on the chair with a satisfied huff.

Archie looked at him and smiled. "Yeah, thank you for your help."

They had been working on the project for a couple of weeks now, and they were finally done with it. It hadn't actually been that difficult. If he had wanted, Archie could have done it alone, but he wasn't lying when he said that it was extremely boring. So, in the end, he was grateful that Maxie had agreed to study with him. To be honest, he had actually asked for help so that he could have an excuse to spend more time with Maxie.

He had noticed him the first time back at the beginning of the school year. It was during the history lesson, if he remembered correctly. The redhead boy had started arguing with the professor about something Archie wasn't paying attention to. They were all half asleep, so he had really stood out. At first, Archie was really amused by his fervor in something in his opinion so insignificant. But then, he had started noticing that he always kept his fiery demenour, regardless of the subject. He almost felt like a stalker. To make things worse, Shelly wouldn't stop moking him for 'crushing on the nerd', but he just had to mention Courtney to make her shut up.

So yes, maybe he had a crush on Maxie, and so what? The only problem was that now that they were done with the project, he didn't have an excuse to spend time with him. Sure, they could always go out as friends, but he wanted something more. Matt had suggested to just tell him the truth, but Archie had absolutely no idea how Maxie felt. What if he just saw him as the guy who held his book hostage? Hell, he didn't even know if he was into dudes. No, it was too risky.

"Archie?" A hand waved in front of his face.

"Uh?" Archie blinked and turned to Maxie, that was looking at him slightly irritated.

"Did you just let me talk to myself for ten minutes?"

Archie smiled, a little embarassed. "Oh! Sorry, I zoned out."

"I could tell," Maxie started putting his things in his bag. "Well, _as I was saying_ , we're done here, so... I suppose I'll see you around?"

He was running out of time. Maybe Matt's advice wasn't that bad. He just had to be subtle.

"Actually, before you go... I was wondering if, maybe, you would like to... go out... with me?"

Maxie looked at him, perplexed. "Do you need help with another assignment?"

Archie facepalmed internally. "No, I meant, you know, as-" a date. "Friends!"

Dammit.

Maxie closed his bag. "Oh, sure. What were you thinking about?"

"I don't know, cinema?" proposed Archie, defeated.

Maxie tapped on the table with his index finger and nodded. "You know the new movie, 'Skitties'? They say it's so bad it feels like a fever dream. Do you want to watch it?"

Archie just nodded. They arranged time and day of their not-date and Maxie left. Now Archie just needed to think what to do next.

The movie was even worse than they expected. At least, that was what Maxie was saying. Archie had been too preoccupied with doing the most cliché moves one could find in romance movies, such as pretending to stretch to put an arm around the other's shoulders, or trying to take the pop corn at the same time as Maxie, so that their hands could touch. Luckily, Maxie didn't notice anything.

They were now laying on the top of a hill nearby the cinema. It was a bit chilly, so Archie had given Maxie his jacket, despite being twice his size. But Maxie didn't complain.

It was almost midnight by then and there wasn't a single cloud in the sky, so they could see the many stars above them.

Archie sighed. _That's really romantic_.

Maxie was still rambling about the uglyness of the movie. "-and I heard that there are cuts that are even worse!"

"Now, that's a high bar to reach," chuckled Archie.

They stayed silent for a while, Archie mulling over what he could do to change things between him and Maxie. There was still the fear that he might be rejected, but he couldn't go on without even trying. Hopefully, Maxie wouldn't be too weirded out and would accept to at least remain friends.

Immersed in his thoughts, Archie didn't notice Maxie staring at him, frowning, until he spoke up. "Is everything alright?"

"Mhm?" Archie turned around too, finding Maxie closer than he remembered. Too close for his own well-being . "Yeah, everything alright. Never been better."

Maxie still didn't seem convinced. "Are you sure? You've been weird all day. Even when we were watching that abomination, you wouldn't stay still."

_He noticed._

"Oh, really?" Archie laughed nervously.

Maxie squinted even more, until he almost had his eyes closed. "Really."

He wouldn't let go. He had to find a way to distract him, quickly. _Or maybe it's the right moment to tell him the truth_ , said a voice in the back of his mind.

Archie sighed and collected all the courage he had. "Well, there is something..." Maxie moved so that he was laying on his side, a hand to support his head and facing Archie. "You see, when I asked you if we could spend more times together... I didn't mean as friends."

"But that's what you said."

"I know! I was nervous and panicked."

"I see," Maxie frowned again, as if he was trying to solve a particularly difficult equation. "Wait, so if you don't want to go out as friends, then as what?"

_Come on Maxie, you have to work with me here._

Archie just stared at him and Maxie had the revelation. "Oh."

"Yeah..." Archie looked away, suddenly very uncomfortable. _Now what, do I just get up and leave?_

He felt a hand on his cheek. Maxie moved his face so that he was facing him again. "So this was our first date?"

Archie held his breath. "I don't know, do you want it to be?"

Maxie hummed, thinking. "There's a nice restaurant not far from here. What about I take you there, say... next friday?"

"That would be great," said Archie breathless. Then he rose a hand and put it on the back of the boy looming over him. He hoped that Maxie didn't notice it shaking a little. But maybe he did, because he smiled, far too nervously for the Maxie he knew. "Well?"

That was what made Archie move and press their lips together. It wasn't passionate, and surely there weren't any fireworks. It was sweet, and soft, and Archie didn't know where to put his hands. It was awkward and had them both laughing nervously by the end.

Maxie fixed his glasses and rested his forehead on Archie's chest, still laughing.

"That went better than I hoped," managed to say Archie.

"Really?" Maxie was looking at him with a cheeky smile.

"Yeah! I was already trying to come to terms with the rejection I would inevitably face."

"You're so dramatic."

Archie smiled again, still incredulous. Earlier that day, the last thing he would have expected was to get an actual date with Maxie, and even a kiss! Of course, he was aware that it wouldn't always be all fun and games, no relationship is. But, at least for now, he could enjoy that moment of happiness. And about the future... they would deal with that together.


End file.
